WrestleMania 31: 5 Reasons why it was one of the best WrestleManias in History

WrestleMania 31 is in the books and the WWE universe is slowly settling back to the usual schedule. Looking back, the pay-per-view was a great experience for the wrestling fans around the world and some have even categorized it as the best ever WrestleMania in history.A portion of the fans might not agree with this statement due to a handful of reasons but thinking about it, WrestleMania 31 was indeed one of the best shows. Almost all the matches were top notch and the number of screw ups by the company were small in number compared to their recent pay-per-view ventures.And since these one dimensional arguments are not enough for the entire fan community to digest WrestleMania 31 as the best, here are some others.

#5 The Nostalgic Battle

Pushing the right nostalgic buttons were one of the things that WWE did perfectly at WrestleMania 31. In past WrestleManias, they have tried to do the same and failed to a certain extent. The gimmick battle royal, Jericho’s battle with the legends, torch passing in Hogan matches and many more segments were such attempts that went in vain.

The battle between D Generation X and NWo however managed to mark out everyone. Both teams are nowhere near their prime and there was a slight lack of believability in the whole angle, but WWE bypassed the problems and ended up with a great WrestleMania moment.

The whole Monday Night wars was put to some great use by the creative team and it was a moment to cherish for the years to come.

#4 Intercontinental Title Match

WrestleMania has seen a lot of ladder matches. The TLC tag team bouts are still one of the benchmarks while the Money in the Bank matches are also up there when it comes to setting the bar. Living up to such a rich history was not a cake-walk but with names like Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler, Luke Harper and Dean Ambrose at their disposal, the creative team lived up to the hype.

The match was a bit short compared to the previous ladder matches at WrestleMania, but it was filled with action from the starting bell itself.

Bryan winning in the end was a fan favorite decision as well and it was a good tribute to the Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels battle that happened years ago for the same Intercontinental championship.

#3 Stings debut

This one is exclusive to WrestleMania 31. The pay-per-view was lucky enough to host the legendary debut of Sting, a moment that the WWE fans wanted to see for more than a decade. The match everyone wanted to see once Sting signed a deal with WWE was Sting vs. Undertaker but WWE managed to steal the show with Sting vs. Triple H.

Instead of letting both men go at it with everything they had, WWE booked the match intelligently. It had the correct amount of overbooking and at the same time gave enough time for both the superstars to showcase their talent.

The NWO vs. DX showdown mentioned earlier was also an add-on for the moment and none on the previous WrestleManias could boast a debut of such importance.

#2 Undertaker without the Streak

Just like the last one, this one is also exclusive to WrestleMania 31. For the past few years Undertaker’s streak was one of the biggest draw of WrestleMania. The fans bought tickets just to know whether Taker would keep his streak intact or not, but WrestleMania 31 was different.

It projected Undertaker as a man without his kingdom but still managed to make him look strong. Also, the buildup to Taker’s match was similar to that of WrestleMania XX. There was small amount of doubt on whether Taker would show up or not until the last moment and it worked for WrestleMania 31 just like it worked a decade back.

Taker getting the win proves that he is above his streak and fans will be looking ahead to next year’s WrestleMania so that they can see the Phenom.

#1 The Twist Ending

Steve Austin’s heel turn, Chris Benoit getting a win over Triple H and Shawn Michaels, Undertaker ending the career of Shawn Michaels is quite arguably some of the best endings in WrestleMania history. WrestleMania 31 added another such ending to this list thanks to the Money in the bank cash in of Seth Rollins.

The main event was supposed to be the career maker of Roman Reigns but instead it turned out to the christening of Rollins as the Ultimate opportunist. The fans were completely marked out when Rollins won the WWE Championship and all the buildup till that moment suited the atmosphere.

Rollins cashing in was one of the mere possibilities but when WWE pulled it off, it went down in the history books as one of the best endings in WrestleMania history.